Family Photos

Trying to take family photos with toddlers and babies is not easy. Brock and I have been taking “Family Photos” since we started dating with one of my closest friends Michelle. We have loved not having the studio look but a more natural feel. These were from our engagement shoot. It was a crazy windy day and we were being sandblasted but you would never know that from looking at our pictures.

So that shoot was a little easier without any children . . . once we added them into the mix it got a little harder trying to find ways to keep them from melting down, after all those are not really the pictures I want to go on my walls.

We did a shoot with Emerald when she was a little over a week old. I definitely did not feel great about myself but I wanted to have a few nice pictures of Emerald. I know that is is becoming more common now to have a photographer in the delivery room, but that is not for me, I actually only have my husband and obviously the doctor anyway getting side tracked. These are a couple of my favorites from that little session of Emeralds baby pictures. I loved this sweet picture of Brock holding Emerald’s tiny little feet and remembering how content she was in Brock’s arms. The other one I loved the lighting that Michelle captured in this although again not really feeling much like myself, but this picture makes me feel empowered some how.

We try to take photos at least once a year and the next time was for Emerald’s first birthday we did another small shoot nothing to fancy just a few pictures at a local park. This session went actually pretty well I even had a few wardrobe changes for Emerald. We are very lucky with Emerald even as a baby she was so sweet and happy most of the time.

The following year we did a session while I was pregnant with Violet. I remember it being a little chilly that day and I was so frustrated trying to find something that “matched” for all of us to wear and clothing options that we all felt good in . . . this seems to be one of our biggest problems especially as the girls are getting older and are more opinionated, anyway again Emerald was so easy, but we made sure the photos were right after her nap so that she was not tired for the photos and we brought snack.

The following session again just a small shoot was when Violet was a little baby again a little after a week it might have been closer to two weeks. We did this one in our house just like Emerald’s and we just threw a sheet over everything to try to cover up the mess of a house I had after just having a baby and having a two year old running around.

This shoot we tried to make Emerald feel included but still had a few of just Violet. It helped having this done at our house and made everyone a little more comfortable plus we had been having Michelle take our pictures for a few years now. I love the silly shots that capture our family dynamic. Pictures that show our love for each other make my heart melt. We decided to do another session about eight mother later (mostly because I love sending out photo christmas cards) I loved this session of the girls Emerald loves being a big sister and I think this captured that so well. This is the shoot when things started to get a little bit more challenging . . . two kiddos that you are trying to coral and they were not always on the same nap schedule which made it harder to schedule a good time, luckily we have an amazing photographer who works so well with keeping the kids interested in taking pictures, but of course these are pictures that happen and you just learn to roll with it and know that they are kids and yes they sometimes eat leaves.

Of course you still get a few good shots and photographers know that it just takes a lot of snaps before you end up with a few wonderful pictures. The one of the two girls I actually made into my mouse pad and the family picture is enlarged on my office wall.

The next year got even more interesting as now both girls were on the move and harder to keep in one area. Incase you can’t tell Violet has a million marshmallows shoved in her mouth. She was so not into taking pictures that day and made sure we all knew it. I brought a ziplock bag of marshmallows that Brock kept in his pocket and would toss at her when she did well, yes I know it was like she was an animal performing for rewards, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do and with Violet we have realized there is no correct way to do anything we just have to adjust and keep going. This session is the one I currently have up in my living room and I love seeing these everyday (yes I know I am behind on updating my pictures in the frames and hopefully I will do that soon)

This is the last shoot we just did and we had so much fun with it. I let the girls pick their own outfits and accessories and they told me how they wanted their hair. I have been working on being silly with the girls and wanting them to remember their childhood being something they loved and wanting them to feel loved.

Yes I think Brock missed the act crazy memo poor guys surrounded by crazy girls. And the second just shows the sass of Violet and the sweet playfulness of Emerald.

These next ones I love looking at together they were taken with in a few seconds of each other one was us walking together and the other Brock yelled run and well Michelle captured it.Yes adding children into the mix has made it interesting but just like with life you find things that work (or don’t work) we adjust and continue to love living this life together as a family with photos as proof (lol)